1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveying apparatus and more particularly to a conveying apparatus for bags that have spouts attached thereto (hereinafter called xe2x80x9cspout-equipped bagsxe2x80x9d) and is installed on a downstream side of a continuous manufacturing apparatus for such bags, and the present invention further relates to a rotary type transfer apparatus that is especially suitable for such a conveying apparatus.
2. Prior Art
In prior art, spout-equipped bags are manufactured by, for instance, a rotary type continuous manufacturing apparatus for spout-equipped bags as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Nos. 11-208884 and 11-124213.
After such spout-equipped bags are continuously extracted via an extraction rotor that is disposed in an adjacent position, the bags are transferred to conveying rails (by way of, for instance, allowing the grooves located between flanges formed on the spouts to be inserted between the rails), the bags are sent xe2x80x9cas isxe2x80x9d in a single row along the conveying rails toward a liquid substance filling device (as disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 11-124213). In another method, after the bags are arranged and accommodated on rail-form accommodating members from the conveying rails, they are supplied to a liquid substance filling device while being accommodated on the accommodating members (as disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 11-263302 and Japanese Patent No. 2500557 (Laid-Open No. H05-170252)).
In the above prior art, spout-equipped bags which are held on the circumference of a continuously rotating extraction rotor must be transferred to conveying rails that are in a stationary state. Since this transfer must be performed at the instant at which the spout-equipped bags reach the position of the conveying rails, the transfer process abruptly becomes unstable in cases where the processing speed (units/minute) of the transfer operation is increased, resulting in numerous transfer errors (bag insertion failure, etc.). Thus, though the rotary type continuous manufacturing apparatus and extraction rotor of the above-described types are used for the purpose of increasing the productivity of spout-equipped bags, stable high-speed processing cannot be accomplished.
Furthermore, troubles would occur in the process line on the downstream side of the extraction rotor. Such troubles include a case where a transfer error in the transfer from the extraction rotor to the conveying rails occurs, a case where the conveying rails malfunctions, a case where some type of trouble occurs in the device that arranges and accommodates the spout-equipped bags on the rail-form accommodating members, and a case where a filling device is connected to the downstream side of the conveying rails and this filling device is stopped. When such troubles occur, the continuous manufacturing apparatus for spout-equipped bags is immediately stopped, and the trouble area is inspected and repaired. However, when the continuous manufacturing apparatus for spout-equipped bags is stopped, the sealing treatment of the spouts and bags under process inside the apparatus becomes defective; in addition, the spouts and bags held in the stopped sealing apparatus are melted as a result of the heat, and the fusion of plastic to the sealing apparatus, etc. occurs.
The present invention is to solve the above-described problems with the prior art.
One object of the present invention is to allow stable high-speed processing with respect to the transfer of the spouts from the extraction rotor to the conveying rails.
Another object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of defective sealing and the fusion of plastic to the sealing apparatus, etc., even in cases where some type of trouble occurs on the downstream side of the extraction rotor.
The above objects are accomplished by a unique structure for a rotary type transfer apparatus for spout-equipped bags in which the spout-equipped bags are received from a plurality of first spout holding members which are disposed on a circumference of a working rotor that rotates continuously at a constant speed, and the spout-equipped bags are rotationally conveyed and transferred to a rail type conveying apparatus installed on a downstream side of the rotary type transfer apparatus; and in the present invention the rotary type transfer apparatus further comprises:
a transfer rotor which has a plurality of second spout holding members disposed on a circumference thereof, and
a driving means which causes the transfer rotor to rotate intermittently a predetermined angle at a time in a fixed cycle of stopping, acceleration, constant speed, deceleration and stopping, the driving means causing speed of the second spout holding members during the constant-speed rotation to coincide with speed of the first spout holding members and causes the first and second spout holding members to run side by side,
wherein the second spout holding members receive the spout-equipped bags from the first spout holding members during the constant-speed rotation, and the spout-equipped bags are transferred from the second spout holding members to a rail type conveying apparatus provided on a downstream side at a predetermined stopping position of the second spout holding members.
Here, the xe2x80x9cworking rotorxe2x80x9d refers to a rotor which is installed adjacent to the rotary type transfer apparatus on the upstream side of the transfer apparatus; and it can be a rotor of a rotary type continuous manufacturing apparatus or an extraction rotor thereof.
In the above rotary type transfer apparatus for spout-equipped bags,
a movement path of centers of spout holding positions of the second spout holding members and a movement path of centers of spout holding positions of the first spout holding members are provided so as to approach each other,
the transfer rotor rotates at a constant speed while the second spout holding members pass near a position of the maximum proximity of the two movement paths,
both of the first and second spout holding members are provided with holding grooves which are oriented radially outward and which hold grooves located between flanges formed on the spouts, and
tapered surfaces that open outward are formed near entrance areas of the holding grooves; and in addition
spouts of the bags which are held in the holding grooves of the first spout holding members are conveyed into the holding grooves of the second spout holding members while the transfer rotor rotates at a constant speed.
In the above structure, it is preferable to install a guide member that conveys the spout-equipped bags from the first spout holding members to the second spout holding members so that the guide member is disposed between the working rotor and the transfer rotor. The guide member is provided with a guide groove that is formed continuously from the movement path of the centers of the spout holding positions of the first spout holding members to the movement path of the centers of the spout holding positions of the second spout holding members; and head portions of the spouts are inserted into the guide groove and guided along the guide groove.
It is further preferable to install a push-out device which, above the holding grooves, pushes the spouts out of the holding grooves of the second spout holding members that are stopped at the stopping position by means of a pusher which advances and retracts in a radial direction of the transfer rotor, thus feeding the spouts out toward the rail type conveying apparatus. The push-out device is preferably provided with a safety mechanism which automatically stops a movement of the pusher toward outside in a radial direction of the transfer rotor when a resistance that exceeds a predetermined value is applied to the pusher during the above movement of the pusher toward the outside.
Furthermore, the conveying apparatus for spout-equipped bags of the present invention comprises the above-described rotary type transfer apparatus and a rail type conveying apparatus which is disposed on a downstream side of the rotary type transfer apparatus. The rail type conveying apparatus is comprised of a transfer rail device that is disposed on a furthest upstream side of the rail type conveying apparatus as a part of the rail type conveying apparatus, and this transfer rail device comprises:
transfer rails which are installed so as to be oriented radially outward from a predetermined stopping position of the second spout holding members and are used to receive spouts of spout-equipped bags from the holding grooves of the spout holding members stopped at the stopping position and to transfer the spouts to a following rail type conveying apparatus, and
a driving means which moves the transfer rails from a position where the transfer rails are installed to a retracted position in which the rails do not receive spouts.
In the above conveying apparatus for spout-equipped bags, it is further preferable that the spout holding members of the transfer rotor and spout guides provided on the transfer rails are disposed at different heights, and grooves of the spouts that are held in the holding grooves of the spout holding members and grooves of the spouts into which the spout guides of the transfer rails are inserted are positioned at different heights in a vertical direction. In this case, it is necessary that a plurality of grooves at different levels in a vertical direction be formed in side surfaces of the spouts.
It is additionally preferable to design so that
of the pair of spout guides of the transfer rails, a spout guide that is positioned on a front side with respect to a rotation of the transfer rotor extends to a position that overlaps with a movement path of centers of spout holding positions of the spout holding members of the transfer rotor, and
the transfer rails are arranged so as to swing within a horizontal plane; and so that
when spouts that are held by the spout holding members and moved come in contact with the transfer rails, the transfer rails swing horizontally and escape from the movement path.
Furthermore, in the above-described conveying apparatus for spout-equipped bags, a rotary type transfer apparatus that performs a predetermined intermittent rotational operation is combined with a transfer rail device, and this arrangement is taken based upon the structure in which a continuously rotating working rotor is present on the upstream side and spout-equipped bags are continuously received from this working rotor. However, this transfer rail device is not limited to a rotary type transfer apparatus that performs such a predetermined intermittent rotational operation. As long as the rotary type transfer apparatus is a rotary type transfer apparatus that is equipped with a transfer rotor in which a plurality of spout holding members that have radially oriented holding grooves that hold grooves located between flanges formed on the spouts are disposed on the circumference of the rotor and is equipped with a driving means which causes this transfer rotor to rotate intermittently a predetermined angle at a time, a conveying apparatus can be constructed in combination with this rotary type transfer apparatus